Photographer's corner - image criticism welcome

Post by **Dollstudio** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:08 pm

Hi,

a while ago I started to chat with a fellow photographer on Twitter whose work I appreciate. Actually appreciate a lot, because I just like his style. His photos have a compelling charme, and hew is very good to make his synthetic models appear extremely cute. Though his pictures are rarely explicit.

He told me that he was recently contracted by a Chinese doll maker to take some photos of a new (TPE) doll. What he showed me was (imho) amazing, but he wasn't entirely happy. He thought that his contractor wasn't entirely happy, so he didn't feel entirely happy, either. Geez!

Now the photos have been officially released and I would like to show them to you. After looking through the photos a couple of times I think understand the contractor-inflicted self-criticism to some degree. Though I still don't see any reason to strive for a different style.

You might have noticed that I like these pictures, and that's why I would like to share them with you.

Do you like them, too, or would you want to see different pictures with this doll?

Please not: To comply with TDF RoC, we can only talk about things like the pictures themselfes, the settings and art direction - but not about the brand, as this girl comes from a non-TDF-listed manufacturer. So this is a dedicated photography-only thread.

Here is a selection from this set:

: 2F7A9387.jpg (628.32 KiB) Viewed 2203 times

: 2F7A9437.jpg (651.96 KiB) Viewed 2203 times

: 2F7A9370.jpg (535.06 KiB) Viewed 2203 times

: 2F7A9376.jpg (647.49 KiB) Viewed 2203 times

: 2F7A9367.jpg (502.66 KiB) Viewed 2203 times

: 2F7A9355.jpg (765.5 KiB) Viewed 2203 times

: 2F7A9350.jpg (697.34 KiB) Viewed 2203 times

Your thoughts about anything like poses, photographic style and techniques etc. are highly welcome!

Thanks,

Sandro

Sate · Post by **Sate** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:39 pm

Afternoon,

Looking just at style, I can't see anything wrong here at all from an amateur's perspective. The doll looks nearly real in some photos (my favorite is the second to last one with the racket between the thighs) and the positioning is realistic and believable. Aside from maybe some spots that are too bright and the green background having fold lines there isn't much I can add for criticism.

- Sate

Broven · Post by **Broven** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:49 pm

To be completely honest i think the photos are very nice. As Sate said there are some hot spots which i suppose are technically incorrect. But i kind of like it regardless. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but i would be proud to produce images as nice as these.

I am very curious to hear what he thinks is actually wrong with them though. He's obviously working at a level well above mine, so it would be educational to hear his own critique.

In any event, i think they look great! And a beautiful doll too!

haremlover · Post by **haremlover** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 7:07 pm

Truly excellent essentially.

My only criticism is that some are too contrasty to the extent of obscuring the subject a bit, and this one

gives a little too much prominence to the hands which are rarely the most realistic aspect of TPE dolls.

Please give him encouragement.

Best wishes

Harem

Keyman · Post by **Keyman** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 9:16 pm

No expert here but these are fairly good pics to an amateur eye. I get a feel the lighting is a little too directional in focus which gives somewhat moody impression.

Doll looks incredible! Could we recognize these photos on your webpage?

Urdor Izajar · Post by **Urdor Izajar** » Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:26 am

Style is the problem that I'm seeing. First impression was that the horizontal shots were given way more artistic expression than the portraits, which look more like your standard doll selling photo. The joys of having a fast lens, right? There were some bigger things I wouldn't be happy about as the client or the photographer if they saw them too. But hey, even the girl who made the worst wedding photos ever still got paid $250.

The Messenger · Post by **The Messenger** » Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:26 am

They are tripping.
This doll is hot.
The photos make me want one, and at the end of the day that is all that matters.
IMO

haremlover · Post by **haremlover** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:25 pm

There's one thing I pick up from these photos

that either the doll is super-hot cutting edge quality with ball joint wrists or they're wire wrists . . . which have no place in quality doll design nowadays.

Doll seduction is more than skin thick.

Best wishes

Harem

Post by **Zang** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 1:59 pm

Haremlover made a good point about the hands. On this particular doll, the hands do seem well-detailed, but they still need to be posed convincingly.

The odd, curled pose of the doll's fingers in the first example photo here is the only major "flaw" that I can see in this whole set.
Otherwise, I too think this photographer's overall style is quite good!

haremlover · Post by **haremlover** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 2:25 pm

Curled fingers are always a problem and common. It's really to do with not wanting to damage the doll. If you look at Alottahope's contest entry this month in Category B he's bent the fingers viciously on a DS doll. DS possibly have the capacity to do this although I'd be wary of doing so in treasuring my ladies, but TPE fingers won't bend like that without doing serious damage as they use wire in gooseneck tubing which doesn't like such sharp bends at all. A TPE doll who's had her fingers abused always shows it, with fingers eventually going all over the place.

Best wishes

Harem

Post by **Dollstudio** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:31 pm

Hi,

there are lots of interesting pointers in this thread! Regarding the curled fingers and the overstretched wrists, I think this is OK as long as you depict a doll as a doll. These attributes are clear indicators for a synthetic photo model and it's legit to disclose these indicators (same goes for seamlines, imho). Showing curled fingers can be a conscious decision of the 'art director' in the sense of a style element. In this case, the doll counts more than the image.

It's different if you strive for hyper-realism and want to blur the boundaries between organic and synthetic models. Praise for a doll photo often comes as 'how realistic she looks', so trying to make a doll look like a human being is clearly a valid approach as well if you are looking for success, be it in contests or with commercial work. In that case it's probably necessary to accept injuries or even breakage to get a (one) good shot. In this case the image counts more than the doll.

As long as you take pictures for your own pleasure, you can reflect your own goals and make a decision yourself, which is always nice.

Though, a contract photographer operates in a different mode. He works for someone else's goals. The most common goal is probably to sell a product (or to promote something), and for that (usually) the product needs to be shown just as immaculate as possible. Product photography has no place for seam lines or other doll-indicators like curles fingers, or even the slightes photographic inattentiveness (e.g. overexposed highlights). That's possibly one of the issues the contractor might have hinted with the photos shown above.

Harem made another good point in viewtopic.php?p=1334893#p1334893; keeping the mode of 'contract work' in mind, the photographer needs to focus on the good things, emphasize what is nice. If you have a more documentary approach (like myself), everything bristles against not showing something that actually is clearly there. But obviously, to sell a product, you need to show the nice face, not the ugly one. So an advice could be to review the doll before starting to take pictures; make a list of everything not so pretty and consequently hide it in the photos. That would probably a rather professional approach to product photography.

On the other hand, I (personally) could not agree more with The Messenger's statement in viewtopic.php?p=1335047#p1335047 - these photos make the doll desirable and cause this 'I want one' urge. That's why I'm hesitant to recommend to practise a technically perfect, but soul-less style. I tend to recommend to rather look for a different contractor, one who wants photos with soul.

Sandro

haremlover · Post by **haremlover** » Thu Jun 21, 2018 3:52 pm

Soul is particularly conveyed by the eyes. Some photographers, either inexperienced ones or bored ones, forget this.

Your photographer understands this well.

Best wishes

Harem

Post by **Dollstudio** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 4:52 pm

Hi,

let's continue this little photographic exercise, shall we?

This is the next photo set which was relesed by the (non-TDF listed)manufacturer yesterday. Same photographer and same contractor as above.

But it's another doll, one of the kind which poses additional challenges besides the photographic part: Handling this doll must have been horrible. Package weight is 60 kg, the doll itself is specified to be 51 kg.

I believe the heandling ordeal is visible in the photos.

Though, see for yourself…

: 2F7A9177.jpg (821.69 KiB) Viewed 1881 times

: 2F7A9173.jpg (870.43 KiB) Viewed 1881 times

: 2F7A9309.jpg (765.5 KiB) Viewed 1881 times

: 2F7A9207.jpg (822.32 KiB) Viewed 1881 times

: 2F7A9287.jpg (821.99 KiB) Viewed 1881 times

: 2F7A9230.jpg (911.18 KiB) Viewed 1881 times

(Selection of 6 pictures out of a total of 33 photos).

Sandro

DollLover2003 · Post by **DollLover2003** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 5:16 pm

They all look good to me.I like the last one the best (the one with her racket behind her back)because it has a good combination of focus and light and dark.

Willendorph · Post by **Willendorph** » Sat Jun 30, 2018 6:38 pm

To me, the pictures look well done in terms of photography alone (good lighting, clear shots etc). The doll poses are a bit off and unnatural though. In that second set there are some pretty obviously odd looking things with the arms, wrists and hands in every single photo. Seriously; every single one, take a look.